Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot provides and open world to explore, but puts the player directly in the shoes of some of the most iconic characters ever brought to manga, anime, or games. It’s a slower paced view of the same familiar story, which gives the benefit of a very close, but very altered perspective on well-known events.
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Witnessing the story from this new perspective has its benefits, from providing a new perspective on Raditz to answering some of the questions fans have had about side characters and setting details. The RPG format is also exceptionally fitting for Dragon Ball - a series all about character growth and the constant search for power. However, there are a few idiosyncrasies in the way that Kakarot implements its RPG formula that mean it should be played very differently to other RPGs.
The Side Content is Shallow
In the beginning of the game, a lot of subsystems and side content is presented to the player, complete with multi-page explanations and complex menus. Doing side quests for characters is rewarded with Soul Emblems that can be placed within various community boards to confer effects, characters will benefit from getting the best gifts, each area is filled with ingredients to collect including fish to catch and dinosaurs to hunt, while travel routes are filled with Z-orbs to fly into that go towards unlocking special moves.
Unfortunately, much of this side content is relatively shallow. With the exception of some interesting DBZ tie-ins, most side quests are fetch quests for forgettable side characters, while flying through each area collecting hundreds of Z-orbs can be monotonous at best. This, combined with a slightly slow start, can result in a poor first impression for players who try to engage in all the side content.
In a classic RPG, side content and sub-systems are vital to character progression and can even make up the bulk of the game. In other JRPGs, without constant grinding and exhaustive collection or exploration, the player character will often be too under-leveled to fight bosses in the main story. It can feel very daunting to see so much side content and then realize that it is all a bit underwhelming. Luckily, the side content is not as important as it is in other RPGs. In fact, it is almost entirely supplementary.
The Main Story Gives Everything You Need
It’s okay that the side content in Kakarot is not particularly deep or engaging, because it is not meant to be anything more than an afterthought for most players. Side quests and collectibles are mostly unnecessary, unless the player wants a specific effect or takes interest in a particular side character. Meanwhile, zooming through Z-orbs on the way to main missions is usually plenty for anyone but true completionists. Doing sub-stories is recommended because they can give some good rewards and unlock other, more interesting sub-stories later on, but it is safe to ignore the more lackluster ones. As collectibles go, collecting the Dragon Balls gives some great rewards, as it should.
However, the most important thing to avoid in DBZ Kakarot is grinding for XP. Because of the nature of Dragon Ball Z’s story, there are huge leaps in power between fighting a character like Raditz and moving on to Vegeta and Nappa, for example. It is typically unnecessary to grind up levels between these fights though, as the game often provides huge amounts of XP just for completing a main story milestone. In a typical playthrough, players will have no trouble keeping up with the ballooning power levels that Dragon Ball Z fans have come to know and love.
The amounts of XP earned for simply progressing the story quickly reach astronomical levels, which can even be seen as a nod to the endless leaps in power that the series is known for. This means that it is entirely viable to play through the entire story in a totally linear fashion, using the side content as a fun diversion every once in a while, rather than a major goal to complete.
WWGD (What Would Goku Do?)
In short, it pays to play DBZ Kakarot like Goku would. Of course, there are plenty of other characters to play in Kakarot, but for the most part the game is about Goku and Gohan’s journey, and should be treated that way. Goku would probably not let himself be distracted by Nam the Peddler on the way to fight Raditz.
This isn’t to say that all of the side content is worthless. It’s very in-character for Goku to do something whimsical like learn to drive a car in between world-ending threats. In fact, the side content being mostly unnecessary is largely a good thing for the game as a whole. It frees players to focus on what they care about and not sweat the small stuff, but all of the side content is still there for those interested or dedicated enough to dive into it.
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Players who just want to experience some of Dragon Ball’s classic sagas and then wait for rumored Kakarot DLCs will be happy, while those who want to unlock every move for every character and find every secret the game has to offer will be able to do so with relative ease. The main story of DBZ Kakarot doesn’t just provide most all of the XP and rewards necessary for progression, it also adds some great insights into the overarching story on its own.
For example, the nature of Goku and Gohan’s relationship in Kakarot is slightly different than in the anime. Even without side quests on par with The Witcher 3 or Skyrim, there is plenty to dive into for more lore in Kakarot.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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